Specifying morphological factors affecting rates of death due to malignant neoplasms.

This paper reports research which examines the relations between select social morphological factors of population size and density and rates of death due to malignant neoplasms among males and females within countries in the north-east and west regions of the U.S.A. between 1960 and 1970. Generally it was found that populations having a stable morphological structure have a negative relation with rates of death due to malignant neoplasms; populations experiencing a change in population morphology, particularly an increase in the number of persons per housing unit, have a positive relation with rates of death due to malignant neoplasms. The importance of tapping different dimensions of the spatial environment is illustrated as future research on the social epidemiology of malignant neoplasms is suggested.